A Beijing 2022 spokesperson reported that 26 positive cases were recorded at the Beijing Capital International Airport, impacting 20 athletes and team officials.

The remaining six cases involved other Games-stakeholders.

A further five athletes and team officials were among 19 positive cases reported from within the closed-loop system, while 15 involved Games stakeholders.

The overall total in the Games-time period has now reached 358 positives.

The Games-time period began on January 23.

Beijing 2022 deputy director general Huang Chun, an official from the office of pandemic prevention and control, claimed the lack of a decline in positive cases could be attributed to an overlap between days when flights arrive and confirmatory tests.

"The numbers appear that the inbound participants were small, but the positives seemed big," Huang said.

"Many flights arrived late at night the day before, and many participants have to wait in the accommodation for the result.

"The statistics are complied between midnight and the second day, so some of the numbers are accumulated over to the next day.

"Some people who tested positive at customs have to take confirmatory tests, and because they are tired we advise they have the confirmatory tests the next morning.

"So, the number does not always represent the number of positive tests on one particular day.

"The number is roughly what we are expecting, but we think the number of positive tests will decrease.

"The number in the closed loop could be maintained or see a small increase, but so far the cases within the closed loop have not spread."

Several athletes have been ruled out of the Games or have faced uncertainty over their participation in competitions amid positive cases.

The Polish Olympic Committee (PKOI) had been forced to sweat over several of their athletes, with speed skaters Natalia Czerwonka, Magdalena Czyszczoń and Marek Kania having been impacted, as well as short track athlete Natalia Maliszewska.

The PKOI has now confirmed the four athletes have all been released from an isolation hotel.

Maliszewska is currently expected to compete in the women’s 500 metres short track event when competition begins at the Capital Indoor Stadium today.

Katie Tannenbaum, a skeleton athlete from the US Virgin Islands, missed the Opening Ceremony of the Games yesterday following a positive test.

Tannenbaum had been due to carry the nation's flag as their sole competitor in Beijing.

The women's skeleton competitions are due to take place on February 11 and 12.

Germany’s three-time Olympic champion Eric Frenzel and world champion Jarl Magnus Riiber of Norway are among high-profile athletes who could miss Nordic combined competitions.

Austrian ski jumping star Marita Kramer was ruled out of the Games earlier this week.

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